I know some folks call riding off the front a mistake or a dumb thing to do, but I don’t see it that way. It shows that you’re a) aggressive and b) strong enough to get off the front and keep yourself there for a bit. It’s especially cool if you can pull it off at the end of the race. I usually don’t have enough jump or balls to go for it with

The first one? Bad. 25 minutes + 3 Laps. I was in the top 1/4-1/3 (about 30 riders) the whole time, well, until some joker took off and I was dumb enough to follow. Not only did I follow, but I kept going, and before long I had about 10 lengths on him. I kept that pace for about two laps (.7 mile loop). Then I bonked and the whole field passed me, so I said “eff this” and I took a DNF (didn’t think sitting out a lap would have helped).

The second one? Leagues better. I started out slowly and quickly realized that I was more fit than the middle of the pack, so I moved to the front of them (in the top third). I was able to stay with everyone really well, and actually drafted well enough to hardly exert any energy. I was even backing off going up hill, because everyone was riding big ring, and I was spinning on the small one and kept riding up peoples’ asses. I made it to the last three laps this time, but again made the mistake of getting anxious - I found myself leading at the start of the second lap, and not knowing what to do, I just pedaled fast. I even had a bit of a cheering section because someone yelled “keep going!” or “keep it up!” or “you suck!” as I made my move. My anxiety again proved to be a mistake, because I couldn’t keep it up, and at the beginning of the final lap I shut it down and most of the field passed me. I finished off the back, but I am confident that I would do well if I would have held off for a sprint.

Overall, crits are pretty fun. I think I am getting the hang of them after riding in two. I have okay endurance/strength but am stupid enough to make moves (so I think) which apparently is to my advantage.

I have a feeling the Gateway Cup will be a bit more competitive, but that’s okay. Licking wounds is a great motivator.

Goal for this Tuesday - finish in the top 1/3 and start my own blog.

Officially, I called it quits for road racing this season after a particularly bad race about a month ago. That and a hurtin’ bank account.

The Wisconsin road races are pretty much wrapped up for the year. I’ve been getting back into the weightroom trying to get geared up for cyclocross. Though I do rather enjoy the odd criterium road trip here and there.

For mountain biker, crit racing is a weird breed of sport. I’ve gotten to know a lot of riders that do well in crits. They tend to be folks that have solid enough muscle endurance to hang out at the front 1/3 of the pack, have a good 30-45 second power output for the final surge, AND (possibly most important in terms of bagging the win) be ballsy enough to make moves and fearless enough to leave things to chance at the end of the race.

It does take a fair amount of conditioning to get used to racing crits. I think I went through a full 10-12 races where I got dropped in all of them before I started hanging in. It’s typically an aggressive race with a lot of hard accelerations mixed with a lot of relatively easy riding. So at the end of a 45 minute crit, you might have an average power output of 245 Watts, but it really looks like 30 seconds at 400W, 2 min @ 210 W, 15 seconds at 400W, 4 minutes @ 210 W, 10 seconds at 800W o when you’re closing down a gap, 1000+W on the final sprint,etc.

So it’s not a real sustained type of race. They are fairly taxing and take a little getting used to.

Deliberate fellows (like myself) tend to have trouble with the aggressive (mental) side of the race despite being “strong enough to win” The last lap of a crit is terrifying with everyone trying to squeeze to the front any which way they can. I race pretty cautiously and try not to get tangled up with anyone in corners. As a consequence, I typically am pushed back at the end of the race and have to sprint starting at ~10th - 15th wheel out of the last turn.

I know some squirrelly little dudes that take a lot of chances and have a good sprint. They put themselves at 4th wheel out of the last turn every race, and always finish better than I do. I hate those guys.

Best of luck to Mountain Biker with the road racing. Probably the best thing he can do for both fitness and technique is to just race criteriums as often as he can. The only thing quite like racing a crit is racing a crit.

Also, you should probably be committed for 100 TGUs.